USS Lafayette
The USS Lafayette was an auxiliary troop ship and aircraft carrier, converted from the French "Superliner" SS Normandie. The Normandie had been seized by the USN the day after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. At first, she was destined to be a troop ship, and work began to convert her into a troop ship. However, after the disastrous loss of several carriers in the Pacific, the USN, desperate for carriers, quickly converted Lafayette into a full Aircraft Carrier. At first commissioned into front line service, she would be relegated to auxiliary service shortly after more essex-class carriers came on line. Due to her ocean liner construction, even after conversion into a carrier she still had ample room for troops. As such, she continued to ferry troops across theaters. Conversion & Design The flight deck for the LaFayette was determined very much off the prior work for the super structure. Due to structural limits of the stern, the flight deck was constrained to the forward 3/4 of the deck. The entire superstructure was removed, and replaced with a hangar, and flight deck. Due to structural limits the hangar and flight deck was constrained to the forward 2/3 of the hull. A relatively large island was installed, which was large due to the excessive plumbing necessary to truncate the 3 funnels into a single location. The LaFayette was extensively armed for a converted craft, being equipped with a AA suite rivaling the newest Essex-class carriers. Overall, the LaFayette had limited hanger space and its capabilities were severely limited as a dedicated carrier. As such, she could only support 55 aircraft. However, due to the vast hull space, the LaFayette had plenty of room for transportation of war materials. Service History The LaFayette would serve on front line duty in the eastern Atlantic as brand new carriers were sent to the Pacific. The LaFayette was not entirely meant to serve as a true front line warship, but rather protect convoys as they entered the US sphere of protection. As such, LaFayette initially embarked with an aircraft complement of 55 aircraft, predominately F4F Wildcats. Deployed to the northern Atlantic patrols with a small taskforce compromised of the light cruiser USS Raleigh, and heavy cruiser USS Chester. In late 1942, the LaFayette would undergo a small refit. The 2nd deck was extended towards the bow, and was used to house 2 Consolidated PBY Catalinas, which were used to rescue aviators and anti-submarine operations. In 1943, when she would be replaced on front line duty by the USS Intrepid. CVE Service After being negated to escort carrier service, LaFayette would become one of the most powerful merchant ships. She would retain her flight deck, which would be used to transport dozens of P-51s, as well as in her hanger. Her flight deck was by far to small to be used to launch P-51s. She would make dozens of trips across the Atlantic, managing to skirt any U-Boat attacks by pure luck. Due to her heavy AA complement, she also managed to strive off hundreds of air attacks. Static Emergency Airstrip In May 1944, as LaFayette neared the coast of Iceland on a return trip to the United States, she underwent heavy air attack from aircraft from the Richtofen. A torpedo bomber managed to land a lucky blow on her amidship. The flooding was quickly brought under control, but suffered damage to all 3 turbines. Taken under tow, the LaFayette would break free of her tow during a heavy storm. She was blown off course, and driven on the Icelandic shore. Suffering heavy damage to her hull, surprisingly enough, engineers found her structural integrity of her superstructure to be near completely intact. As such, the LaFayette was designated an emergency landing zone for aircraft, and was stocked for recovering aircraft. This would come in handy, as during 1947, Roosevelt was flying on the Presidential VC-54C on his way to a conference in Europe with Churchill, when one of the engines blew out due to a bird strike over Iceland. With no other options, the pilots were forced into a emergency landing on USS Lafayette. The Pilot managed to accomplish this by approaching low behind the carrier, at hull level, before pulling up quickly forcing the plane into a stall allowing the "Sacred Cow" to land with feet to spare at the end of the runway. Roosevelt would 'hitch' a ride on the newly repaired USS Wisconsin to London. Category:United States Navy Category:Aircraft Carrier